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Immigrant Blues: On Islam

My flatmate Islam has had it tough the past few days. He and his girlfriend Monika have broken up. Part of it was endless separations (she has a kidney stone and has been in and out of the hospital, and the rest of the time lives in another town). But also, Islam was counting on them getting married (in part to help extend his visa) and Monika, claiming a bad experience with a previous husband, an Italian, kept putting him off).
Now he's getting a little desperate. His visa, granted in July for six months, expires at the end of the year.
'Can you renew?' I asked.
'No, not this time,' Islam said. 'This was last one.'
I could see he was disconsolate. But in a way we were in the same boat. My visa has already expired, and until I leave Prague for Istanbul, where I've been offered a position in January, I've been trying to keep my head low.
'I must find new girl,' Islam said, breaking into a smile.
'You must fight,' I said.
'Must fight. Must win! Ah, James, there are many women everywhere. But I must be quickly. By hook by crook.'
'So come with me to Turkey,' I said.
'Yes, but they will not give visa.'
'You're Muslim. They're lots of Muslims in Turkey.'
'Yes, but I am from third-world country. Not like you.'
We've been over this ground before, as regular readers know. I feel I haven't done justice to Islam in past postings. Readers maybe get the impression that he's a sort of a simple fellow from Bangladesh. Not at all. I do know that back in Bangladesh he had a mobile phone business, and has traveled in Russia, China, India and Singapore. Along with English, he also speaks better Czech than I do, and he also speaks a bit of Farsi, Russian and Chinese. He says he lost his business in Bangladesh because the taxes were so high that he couldn't effectively sell his products and make a profit.
He came to Prague about two years ago, leaving behind a wife and daughter in Bangladesh. He met Pavel, owner of the pub in our neighborhood, by chance and got a job cooking in the kitchen. Pavel pays him about 100 crowns an hour, which is about minimum wage here (about $5). Islam's plan was to work long enough and save money to start his own restaurant.
'Working for yourself is best,' he says. 'There is freedom, I need freedom. It's no good work for somebody else.'
It's hard to believe sometimes that he's actually, at 26, ten years younger than me. In fact I like to think we're the opposite. Perhaps it traces back to growing up in a third-world country, where life is harder, but nine times out of ten Islam is the stronger and more mature of us. I've known him for a year now and I've never seen him take a day off from work. True, his kitchen job at Pavels is cushy. Most people go there to drink and smoke marijuana, so at most he has maybe a half dozen orders a night. The rest of the time he's free to sit in the kitchen, where he has a computer, and chat with his girlfriends (he's got a whole string of women, most of them married) or listen to his music from Bangladesh or read the news (he reads the BBC translated into Bangladeshe).
'Every day, must work,' he says.
'You should take a day off.'
'No, no. Cannot afford.'
Every now and then, though, on a Saturday or Sunday morning, we'll grab a bus -- any bus -- or tram and just ride it all the way to the end. Its a great way to see Prague, in fact, much better than those package tours the tourists idiotically pay a fortune for). Islam personally buys all the ingredients he uses at work, and sometimes on our tours he'll find a market with super cheap deals and load up. Last weekend I went with him to Michle, one of those unsung, out of the way districts of Prague, and there we found a 60-pound sack of potatoes for something like four bucks. The sack was heavy, but Islam had brought with him all these spare plastic grocery bags. So we opened the sack and distributed the potatoes among the bags, and split the load to carry home.
There have been times when I've been short of cash, and Islam will say, 'You need money? No problem.' Once he had 300 crowns, and said, 'You take two hundred. I will take one.'
Of course I've lent him money as well, but I admit it's harder for me to be philosophical about it sometimes, as Islam says, 'Money, always coming and going. Money can never be in one place, it must always go somewhere. This is the reason for money.'
What else? There are other things, things I'll probably remember later. But I was just thinking today, after listening to Islam tell me about what happened with Monika, and how he's not sure what he'll do at the end of the year. It's looking though like our paths, joined by expedience this past year, and having evolved into a genuine friendship, will separate.
Most likely, he will end up back in Bangladesh, where he can muster resources, get his bearings, and think of his next move.
'Home is best,' Islam says. 'There you don't need visa, you don't need to worry.'
Or, maybe he will find the girl willing to marry her fortunes together with him.
'Maybe you could pay a girl,' I offered. 'You know, just tell her you'll give her 20,000 crowns or something just to sign the paper.'
'No, no. They will be checking. The police, to see if we live together. Ah, James, life is life. There are many women here married, and they have boyfriends (this is true, two of Islams other girls have boyfriends). But we will see.'


Posted by James Tressler on October 27, 2008 08:49 AM |

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